When Garrison Reeves rushed over, the tombstone had already collapsed. Winifred Dawson’s photo lay in the dirt, her smiling face cracked in the middle, appearing both to cry and laugh.
Garrison Reeves abruptly stopped in his tracks. For a moment, it felt as if his soul had been drained. He stood there, staring at the fallen tombstone with bloodshot eyes.
Realizing what had happened, he swiftly charged towards Leland Burns but was stopped by his men before he could reach him.
Four fists against two hands were no match, especially when there were four men with eight hands. Garrison Reeves struggled fiercely, but even with broken and dislocated hands, he couldn’t break free. He could only scream hoarsely.
“Leland Burns! What right do you have to topple Winifred’s tombstone? How could you do this? She’s dead, and you still won’t let her rest in peace! How can you be so cruel?”
Leland Burns looked down at the restrained and bent-over Garrison Reeves with a hint of annoyance in his cold eyes and furrowed brows.
“What right? I haven’t even asked you what right you have to build a tomb for Winifred Dawson. What status do you have to erect her tombstone?” Even if Winifred Dawson were truly dead, it should be him building the tombstone. After all, he and Winifred Dawson had been halfway married through the church.
Garrison Reeves’ voice choked with rage as he forced out his words: “Winifred is already dead. I searched for her for five years-five whole years-and I gave up. She didn’t live well; she couldn’t even return home. Do you want her to become a wandering ghost without a resting place even after death?”
“I forbid you to curse her!” Leland Burns grabbed Garrison Reeves by the collar. “You didn’t find her; that doesn’t prove she’s dead. She’s not dead!”
With his collar gripped tightly, Garrison Reeves had no choice but to look up, his face full of sarcasm. “Leland Burns, how long will you deceive yourself? You gave up on her five years ago. What right do you have to question me about building her tombstone? Besides, the police already…”
“Bullshit!” Leland Burns rudely interrupted before Garrison Reeves could finish. “I stopped searching for her not because I believed she was dead but because I was convinced she was still alive! She’s hiding from me on purpose! How can I find someone who’s deliberately avoiding me? And don’t use the police’s excuses on me. Without a body, it proves she’s not dead. Without my permission, you can’t build her a tombstone! If I see it once, I’ll smash it once! You admit she’s dead, but is her body buried under this soil? Tell me!”
Leland Burns rarely lost his temper, but when he did, he became like an enraged lion ready to tear apart anyone in front of him.
This side of Leland Burns frightened everyone. At twenty-six, he was no longer the twenty-one-year-old he once was.
Even as a young man, Leland Burns exuded an intimidating presence that made people overlook his age. Now at twenty-six, that presence was like a dormant volcano ready to erupt with deadly force.
The bodyguards lowered their heads, not daring to look at Leland Burns’ grim expression.
Garrison Reeves clenched his teeth so hard that veins popped out on his forehead and neck. In confrontations with Leland Burns, whether five years ago or now, he always found himself at a disadvantage. Some things seemed innate-talent being one of them-which was frustratingly undeniable.
After taking a deep breath to calm himself, Garrison Reeves looked into Leland Burns’ eyes and said slowly and deliberately: “You’re right; there are no remains of Winifred here. But Leland Burns… you should know very well that Winifred is gone. With your capabilities, how could you not find her? You didn’t search because you were afraid of finding out she was dead. You’re just a coward who can’t accept her death. Is it because what I said back then hit too close to home? She died because of you; you drove her to death. Five years have passed and you still won’t admit it…”
“Say that again?” Leland Burns loosened his grip on Garrison Reeves’ collar only to grab him by the throat instead. The veins on his hand bulged as if he could strangle him with just a bit more force.
Garrison Reeves struggled to breathe, his face turning pale as he forced out: “I can say it a thousand times if needed. The surveillance footage showed Winifred boarding that ship which later sank unexpectedly. Out of dozens of people, none survived that night five years ago; no one saved her and she couldn’t swim nor save herself…”
His face turning white from lack of air, Garrison Reeves managed a bitter smile that looked more like a grimace-a hard curve devoid of warmth or joy.
“Leland Burns, you knew Winifred better than I did. You knew she couldn’t swim and had a fear of deep water. What drove her to flee by boat?”
Winifred Dawson didn’t originally fear deep water; she even loved the fish in the sea for their freedom until her eighteenth birthday when something happened on a boat with Leland Burns during a stormy night which left her traumatized.
She feared deep water because of Leland Burns.
She fled by boat because of Leland Burns.
Her disappearance was inseparable from Leland Burns.
So what could he use to keep her?
Even if he had children through IVF beforehand, Winifred Dawson wouldn’t stay just for them.
It felt like ice-cold water poured over him from head to toe; an icy sensation shot from his feet to his brain causing an almost explosive headache while every cell screamed in agony as he suddenly let go of Garrison Reeves feeling completely drained.
He didn’t know what else to say; everything Garrison Reeves said cut through his five-year-long dreamlike fantasy like a knife.
At this moment he resembled nothing more than a programmed robot repeating one phrase: “She’s not dead… she’s not dead…”
Pushed away by Leland Burns’ outburst caused Garrison Reeves stumbled back onto the ground gasping for air mixed with cold breaths until tears streamed down from bloodshot eyes after coughing fitfully.
“You don’t believe she’s dead-that’s your business-but wanting her buried peacefully is mine-we shouldn’t interfere with each other.”
Leland Burns quickly regained composure reverting back into aloof indifference looking down upon Garrison Reeves disdainfully.